600 RUSSELL Mill Relining Machines: a defining milestone for RME’s Customers

RUSSELL MINERAL EQUIPMENT (RME) has reached a defining milestone with the manufacture of the 600th RUSSELL Mill Relining Machine (MRM).  

For more than four decades, the RME Mill Relining System has been part of the working lives of reline crews and mine sites worldwide, trusted to keep people safe on the job so they return home to their families after every reline — and keep the mills turning. 

Inside grinding mills, which are among the most hazardous environments in mineral processing, crews face risks from confined spaces, mobile machinery, and suspended loads. It is here that RME’s technology has made a tangible difference, enabling safer shifts and shorter shutdowns that protect both people and productivity. 

RME’s commitment to quality manufacturing has also seen RUSSELL MRMs deliver industry‑best performance, durability and longevity at remote mine sites, where extreme conditions mean safe, reliable equipment operation is essential.

From the first RUSSELL MRM to the 600th and beyond, each machine carries the lived experience of the reline crews who operate it, and the lessons from the mine sites that have trusted RME to deliver fast, safe, reliable relines.

As RME’s Chief Engineer, Simon Thompson put it:

Now, this 600th RUSSELL MRM will embark on a journey as remarkable as its compact build — travelling from Australia to Alaska. After factory acceptance testing, it will be disassembled into major assemblies, packed into shipping frames and sent via Seattle, barged to Anchorage, and hauled across an icy landscape to reach the Pogo gold mine. 

RME’s North American Site Services and Optimisation team will then commission this 600th RUSSELL MRM at Pogo, partnering with site in the months and years ahead to deliver trusted fast, safe, reliable relining capability to one of the world’s most remote gold mines. 

A story of people and pioneering progress  

RME’s 600th RUSSELL MRM is much more than a manufacturing tally; it is a story of people, persistence and pioneering progress — a meaningful milestone for a company founded in 1985 when an entrepreneurial engineer, Dr John Russell, refused to accept the inevitability of the safety and productivity risks associated with one of the most critical maintenance tasks in operating mineral concentrators.  

From the commissioning of the world’s first mechanised mill liner handler — a RUSSELL 6 for Mount Isa Mines in Queensland, Australia — which improved safety, halved the site’s reline times and set a new industry standard — to the legendary RUSSELL 7, now the industry’s most widely adopted mill relining machine, each MRM has carried lessons of crews and Customers who trust RME to make their work safer. 

RME’s customer base and product range grew through the 1990s, giving rise to the RME Mill Relining System. Its adoption accelerated during the global mining construction boom, and an explosion of innovation has followed since 2016. It is a longevity that has seen RME accrue operational experience at scale and translate it into safer, faster relines across 440 mine sites in 64 countries — each one a story of partnership and shared success. 

Engineering with purpose, built on legacy 

The 600th RUSSELL MRM represents the distillation of a four‑decade learning journey with the field — the crews trained, the relines completed, and the sites that have pushed for safer, faster outcomes. Each machine carries forward the lessons of those before it, creating a continuous‑improvement loop that has shaped the maturity and reliability RME is known for. 

Simon Thompson reflected on RME’s purposeful engineering and the people who have shaped it, saying: 

"On the workshop floor, our people continue to deliver the same precision manufacturing that has always defined RME. Whether it’s our traditional System or Advanced Technology, every machine is built to meet the same rigorous standards our Customers expect: industry-best safety, future‑focused, engineered for long‑term performance — and shaped by Customer feedback and trust.” 

Our promise to our Customers 

At the same staff gathering in Toowoomba, Eddie Bosnjak described the 600th RUSSELL MRM not only as a machine for one Customer, but a defining milestone for all Customers. 

Eddie emphasised that the 600th RUSSELL MRM is further proof of RME's ongoing promise to our industry — to remove fatal risk through innovative solutions, and to visibly, defensibly and sustainably improve our Customers’ concentrator performance. Every machine and improvement reflects this commitment to reduce hazardous risk, shorten shutdowns and lower the cost of lost production for our Customers by improving mill availability. It also demonstrates RME’s proven capability, logistical reach, and delivery history to stand behind mill operators wherever they operate. 

As Eddie puts it “Making things better is what RME does — and it’s what we will keep doing, together with our Customers. This milestone is not just ours; it belongs to every crew, every site, and every person who has shaped the journey and we invite them to keep shaping what comes next.”